The Four Sonics
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The Four Sonics
James "Jay" Johnson established himself as one of the top bass-baritone singers in the Detroit doo-wop and soul music scene during the pre-Motown years. He was a member of the Detroit group Nolan Strong & The Diablos and can be heard on the group's Fortune Records recordings from late 1956 on. While at Fortune Records, Johnson also recorded with Andre Williams' 'New Group.' He can also be heard as the dominant bass voice on Nathaniel Mayer's hit "Village Of Love". Johnson would later form The Velvet Angels and The Four Sonics. He is currently performing with a new Diablos group he organized, Nolan Strong's Diablos – Johnson is the only original member. Nolan Strong and the Diablos, Fortune Records Johnson, 15 years old at the time, joined the Nolan Strong & the Diablos in 1956. Johnson was introduced to Nolan Strong through fellow Fortune Records artist Andre Williams. Johnson performed and recorded in Andre Williams' New Group. Johnson is heard on William's songs: "Bacon Fat" ...
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Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the title role in ''Der fliegende Holländer'', Wotan/Der Wanderer in the ''Ring Cycle'' and Hans Sachs in '' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''. Wagner labelled these roles as ''Hoher Bass'' ("high bass")—see fach for more details. The bass-baritone voice is distinguished by two attributes. First, it must be capable of singing comfortably in a baritonal tessitura. Secondly, however, it needs to have the ripely resonant lower range typically associated with the bass voice. For example, the role of Wotan in ''Die Walküre'' covers the range from F2 (the F at the bottom of the bass clef) to F4 (the F above middle C), but only infrequently descends beyond C3 (the C below middle C). Bass-baritones are typically divide ...
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Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was influential in the creation of Southern soul and Memphis soul music. Stax also released gospel, funk, and blues recordings. Renowned for its output of blues music, the label was founded by two siblings and business partners, Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton (STewart/AXton = Stax). It featured several popular ethnically integrated bands (including the label's house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s) and a racially integrated team of staff and artists unprecedented in that time of racial strife and tension in Memphis and the South. According to ethnomusicologist Rob Bowman, the label's use of "one studio, one equipment set-up, the same set of musicians and a small group of songwriters led to a readily identifiable sound. It was a soun ...
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Living People
Related categories * :Year of birth missing (living people) / :Year of birth unknown * :Date of birth missing (living people) / :Date of birth unknown * :Place of birth missing (living people) / :Place of birth unknown * :Year of death missing / :Year of death unknown * :Date of death missing / :Date of death unknown * :Place of death missing / :Place of death unknown * :Missing middle or first names See also * :Dead people * :Template:L, which generates this category or death years, and birth year and sort keys. : {{DEFAULTSORT:Living people 21st-century people People by status ...
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Doo-wop Musicians
Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. It features vocal group harmony that carries an engaging melodic line to a simple beat with little or no instrumentation. Lyrics are simple, usually about love, sung by a lead vocal over background vocals, and often featuring, in the bridge, a melodramatically heartfelt recitative addressed to the beloved. Harmonic singing of nonsense syllables (such as "doo-wop") is a common characteristic of these songs. Gaining popularity in the 1950s, doo-wop was "artistically and commercially viable" until the early 1960s, but continued to influence performers in other genres.Hoffmann, FRoots of Rock: Doo-Wop In ''Survey of American Popular Music'', modified for the web by Robert Birklin ...
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Detroit Blues Musicians
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the Canada–United States border, United States–Canada border, and the County seat, seat of government of Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of United States cities by population, 27th-most populous city in the United States. The metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second-largest in the Midwestern United States, Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area, and the 14th-largest in the United States. Regarded as a major cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to Music of Detroit, music, art, Architecture of metropolitan Detroit, architecture and design, in addition to its historical automotive background. ''Time (magazine), Time'' named Detroit as one o ...
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American Soul Musicians
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * ...
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American Rhythm And Blues Singers
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * B ...
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African-American Musicians
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslaved Africans who are from the United States. While some Black immigrants or their children may also come to identify as African-American, the majority of first generation immigrants do not, preferring to identify with their nation of origin. African Americans constitute the second largest racial group in the U.S. after White Americans, as well as the third largest ethnic group after Hispanic and Latino Americans. Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved people within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of West/Central African with some European descent; some also have Native American and other ancestry. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-iden ...
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The Contours
The Contours is one of the early American soul singing groups signed to Motown Records. The group is best known for its classic chart-topping 1962 hit, "Do You Love Me", which sold over 1 million copies and became a major hit again in 1988. History Establishment and "Do You Love Me" Joe Billingslea (born November 14, 1937) and Billy Gordon founded a singing group called the Blenders in their native Detroit, Michigan in 1959. They completed the group with Billy Hoggs and Billy Rollins, who had responded to an ad placed in the local newspaper by Billingslea. The group soon added Leroy Fair (in place of Billy Rollins), and bass singer Hubert Johnson, and changed the name to "The Contours". In the fall of 1960, the group auditioned for Berry Gordy's Motown Records. Gordy turned the act down, prompting the group to pay a visit to the home of Johnson's cousin, R&B star and Gordy associate Jackie Wilson. Wilson in turn got the Contours a second audition with Gordy, at which they sang t ...
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Sylvester Potts
Sylvester Potts was a singer and composer as well as an off and on member of The Contours and a one time member of The Four Sonics. Songs that he has either composed or co-composed have been recorded by The Contours, Mamie Galore, Jimmy Ruffin and The Temptations. Personal Sylvester Potts was on January 22, 1938, and attended North Eastern High, the same school where Martha Reeves, Mary Wilson, and Bobby Rogers were educated at. Owing to his love of the music and the excitement he got from it once said he wanted to die on stage. Career 1950s In the late 1950s, Sylvester Potts was a member of a group called The Hi-Fidelities whose line up consisted of Huey Davis, Potts, Juanita Davis and Tony York. They released two singles, "Street Of Loneliness" bw Pott's own composition, "Help Murder Police" on Hi-Q 5000 in 1957, and "Last Night I Cried" bw "Just Go" on Fortune 528 in 1958. In 1959 late 1950s, Billy Gordon, Billy Hoggs, Joe Billingslea, Potts and Hubert Johnson formed The Blen ...
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Gino Parks
Gino or Geno Parks (born Gene Purifoy, 26 June 1933) is an American R&B singer who recorded for several labels, including Tamla, in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography He was born in Fairfield, Alabama, and in his teens sang with several gospel groups including the Harmony Four, the Five Spirituals, and the Evangelistic Gospel Choir. He attended Miles College in Birmingham, before moving to Detroit in late 1954. He soon met singer and songwriter Andre Williams, joining Williams in his group the Five Dollars, and then Williams' New Group, who had a no.9 R&B hit single in 1956 with "Bacon Fat". He and Williams then performed as a duo, and recorded for Fortune Records. In 1960, Parks signed for Berry Gordy's Motown Records, and was first credited on "Blibberin' Blabberin' Blues", an answer record to the Coasters' "Yakety Yak", in 1961. This was followed by "That's No Lie", released on the Tamla label, and then "For This I Thank You"/"Fire" in 1962. He then moved to Golden World Reco ...
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